The Lone Ranger

Pi­rates of the Caribbean di­rec­tor Gore Verbin­ski and pro­ducer Jerry Bruck­heimer go west with this rol­lick­ing adap­ta­tion. Like Pi­rates, the film mixes cut­ting-edge vis­ual ef­fects with a jokey tone. Johnny Depp plays na­tive Amer­i­can war­rior Tonto, who re­counts how law­man John Reid (Ar­mie Ham­mer) was trans­formed into the masked hero for jus­tice. They say: Re­view­ers have been tough on the film, mostly for its lack of real charm, some­times messy sto­ry­telling and com­i­cally over-the-top ac­tion. Wesay: Much too con­trived and cal­cu­lated to de­liver the same jolt as the first Pi­rates film, but there’s more than enough non­sense and big-screen may­hem on dis­play to jus­tify a ticket. Run­ning time 149 min­utes. Screens at Pa­cific Fair, Aus­tralia Fair, Robina, Coolan­gatta, Har­bour Town, Tweed City, Nerang, Yatala Drive-in.

(PG)

Helen Mir­ren as Queen El­iz­a­beth II in Peter Mor­gan’s play The Au­di­ence.